Christmas Patterns

I created these Christmas inspired patterns and decided to format them as greeting cards.

It's a Snowman Invasion

The snowmen are taking over this blog! These designs are featured on greeting cards this season from Design Design, Inc. I'd love to see someone actually build a real snowman totem with snowmen standing on each other's shoulders. How amazing would that be?

Let It Snow

These are some very energetic snowmen! There is a cheerleader-esque quality to the pyramid formation, but who can blame their enthusiasm. Snowmen do love snow. These snowy characters will be appearing on a holiday flag next year at your local Lowe's store. I'm also attempting to license them onto dinnerware.

Discount at Cardstore.com

Cardstore.com is offering a discount for friends and family right now! Receive 15 percent off any card order through December 31. Just use discount code FRIEND15

Just click on the link here to go to the site.

Snowman with his best friend

This snowman has his trusty little snowdog friend with him at all times. I did this series of designs for a holiday ornament project last year. They were not turned into ornaments, but one design did make it onto a Holiday boxed card this year from Design Design, Inc. You can buy it here.

All I Want for Christmas...

This dog and cat are dreaming about all the great things they want for Christmas. Christmas shopping can be a bit difficult at times, but my dogs are really easy to buy for. Anything edible and they are in heaven!

Cornucopia

A festive cornucopia I painted for a dinnerware project last year to get you primed and ready for Thanksgiving! Get ready to say hello to good food!!

Cardstore.com

These are just a few of my Holiday cards (I believe there are 38 total designs) that are now available at cardstore.com. Just click here. They are all holiday cards and some are decorative frames that you personalize with a photo that you upload to their site and they print the card all as one. They will even send the cards to everyone on your recipient list. So simple! You can also personalize the sentiment inside. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."

Advent Calendar

My "Santa's Workshop" Advent Calendar is now available here. It is produced and marketed by Mudpuppy Press, which is a division of Galison Books. The calendar is featured at the bottom of the design and comes with removable stickers that can be placed throughout the scene.

Is it really that time already?

While out and about over the weekend, I noticed the Holidays are on full display at every retail store. So, I figured perhaps it was time to post my first seasonally inspired images. I hope these snowmen remind you of all the wonderful times you can look forward to in the fast approaching Season.

Seasonal Color

More Autumn designs. These are from a recent dinnerware project. I love the warmth of Autumn color. Looking at these designs makes me feel like I should be sitting by a fire on a hay bale sipping apple cider in a flannel coat!

Gift Cards

These two designs were previously licensed on greeting cards and now they will appear on gift cards for a store in South Africa. How cool is that?!

Happy Halloween!

This design is on garden flags available at Maynards stores across the country. I hope you enjoy some witch's brew this Halloween!

Jack-O-Lantern

Jack-O-Lanterns are the ultimate Halloween symbol and this little group is huddled around a favorite chair to spend a frightful night. This design can be found on a garden flag manufactured by Toland Home Garden. You can purchase it here.

Thanksgiving card

I fist did this design for a garden flag project with the theme of Autumn. Greeting card company Design Design, Inc. has licensed it for a Thanksgiving/Autumn card. The dark silhouette areas of the design have a leather texture that works really well for the season. You can order the card here.

Little Bits of the Season

Just some small bit and pieces. Halloween is so rich with imagery and color that it makes an illustrator's life easy and quite enjoyable.

Halloween Plates

These Halloween inspired designs are from a paper partyware project a while ago. I love using the color black and Halloween is one of the few occasions where it's ok to use it in excess if you so choose. I am in the mood to buy a pumpkin now!

Ahh, to be a kid again!

Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays as a youngster. Dressing up in crazy costumes and getting free candy... what's not to like?! It was sometimes cold and rainy, but always really fun and we stayed up really late sorting and trading our candy treasure. The ghost on a bike image is available as a garden flag produced by Toland Home and Garden and available here. The ghost juggling candy corn is still waiting to be licensed onto products.

A Mini Trip

I am off for a few days to attend my niece's wedding. Congrats to Kaley and Josh! See you soon.

Scary Cute!

I had a great time painting these Halloween cards for kids a couple of years ago published by Sunrise Greetings. Dogs and cats dressed up in classic Halloween attire works every time. I hope you are enjoying the fall season!

A Change of Season

The changing seasons are always a welcome sign to me, even if they are subtle here in San Diego. It's a time for me to collect my thoughts and reminisce about all the wonderful times I've had during that particular time of year. During this time, I always yearn for the beautiful fall trees that drop their colorful leaves one by one in the midwest where I grew up. Although we have some fall color here, it is less of a spectacle unless you head to the mountains nearby. Happy fall to you!

Bakery Sticker Tote

These stickers are part of a product I designed for Peaceable Kingdom Press. It is a sticker tote and is available online here. It comes with 2 tri-fold cards of bakery scenes that kids can add the removable stickers to. Peaceable Kingdom does some great kid's products including greeting cards, stickers, games, puzzles, growth charts, journals, etc.

Fabrics

These cat and dog designs of mine will be featured on fabrics by the yard at select Walmart stores starting in October with a larger rollout to more stores in January. They are being produced by Springs Creative fabrics.

A softer side of Acrylic Paints

I painted these last week. So much of what I have been seeing in the marketplace for years now, including my own artwork, is very graphic and hard edged. I just wanted to go back to my painterly roots a bit and try out some softer looks. It was really enjoyable and I plan on doing more of it as time permits. Right now I am busy working on a kid's book and a whole bunch of kid's stickers.

Flowers, birds and butterflies

This is a new collection of patterns and such I recently finished. It all started with the tulip design I did for a greeting card project. My agent, Mosaic Licensing, showed it to one of their fabric company clients and they were interested in seeing more. It features spring flowers with birds and butterflies. I also added a bit of a modern folk styling to it. It was a really enjoyable project!

Because it's somebody's birthday somewhere

I'm posting this big birthday cake image... just because... we all have birthdays and even if yours isn't today, don't you wish you had some delicious cake to eat right now?!

Tropical Dinnerware

It is a common dream for many of us to wish we could be transported to a tropical locale for a break from reality. If this sounds like you, then I think some tropical themed dinnerware would be appropriate in your life! These designs are from a project I did a couple of years ago.

Sailing Away

This design is a couple of years young, but it's a good summer image nonetheless. I love to watch the sailboats here in San Diego Bay. They are numerous and so beautiful to watch as they quietly glide by.

Night Owl Art Print

I have created another color version of my patterned owl design. It is for sale in my Etsy shop, Pictorialboom. You can purchase it here. Owls are such unique birds. There was an owl that lived near our first house here in California and I loved hearing him "hoot hoot" at night. I'm still waiting to encounter one here in San Diego other than at the zoo.

Happy 52nd Mom and Dad!

Today is my parents' 52nd wedding anniversary! Congrats Mom and Dad. You are both amazing!

Polka Dots!

This is a new design I did for a recent greeting card project and it is now also available as an art print in my Etsy shop, Pictorialboom. You can find it here.

Hello Monday

I hope this Monday finds you doing well. Weekends certainly fly by and I am busy, busy, busy with work to do so I am not posting much lately. Hopefully this little pooch will make you smile.

Birthday Partyware!

I always enjoy designing birthday imagery. It is always so colorful and celebratory. This collection was inspired loosely by oilcloth tablecloth fabrics. These birthday images have already been licensed on greeting cards with Trader Joe's but I would love to see it utilized on some other products.

Summer Ice Cream

Who doesn't enjoy ice cream during the summertime? So many of the popsicles, push ups, etc bring back fond memories of summer days when I was just a little guy. Here in San Diego, the self serve yogurt ice cream craze is everywhere. There are probably 6 or 8 shops open within 3 miles of my house and they seem to do a good business, especially at the beaches. The multitude of toppings add to the fun of the experience too.

These designs are from some greeting cards and stickers that I did for Peaceable Kingdom Press. They are available now and can be purchased here.

New Greeting cards at Trader Joe's

New greeting cards will once again be appearing in Trader Joe's stores around the middle of August. Here are my five designs that will be available. They should be in the stores until the end of the year. Remember, they are only 99 cents! Such a deal!!

Herb plate and napkin

I am enjoying the fact that manufacturers and, in turn, customers are requesting lots of color, color, color! It makes my job a lot more enjoyable. This design featuring silhouettes of herbs is not shy when it comes to color.

Fruit Patterns

A fabric company is interested in producing my fruit designs. I put them into repeats to show them how they might look and wanted to share them with you too! They have a subtle country vibe with some crafty touches too such as the stitched linework. Id love to see them all produced in a variety of color ways.

First Dog

I was approached to do a sample painting of the "first dog" Bo Obama for a possible children's book project. I wanted him to be sitting at an official looking desk with some of his favorite things around him. Not sure what the story will be as of yet and if I will get the project. There are probably several other artists doing samples for it as well.

Tote Bags

A tote bag manufacturer approached me recently to take a few of my existing designs that they liked and redesign them to fit onto their bags. It was a quick little project, but I always enjoy seeing how a design can be utilized onto different kinds of products. I am still waiting to hear whether they will be licensing them, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Finally, Kitchen Nirvana!

The journey was long and filled with plenty of bumps along the way, but we now have a kitchen we can both work in together and enjoy for years to come! We went from an '80's outdated builder's grade space full of bad planning and poor use of space to an open and airy room that flows nicely into the living and dining rooms with a slightly modern esthetic. And, "Hello counterspace!" Don't get me started on the beautiful new restaurant quality stainless steel sink and the faucet with the pull-out spray (probably something the rest of you take for granted.) The before and after pictures really help to show just how different it really is. The before pics were taken when we first bought the house almost four years ago. I just love before and after pics, don't you?

We love the rippled waves in our backsplash tile.

The quartz countertop is shiny and smooth unlike our old cracked and chipped tile counters.

The handblown glass pendant lights add light and definition to the counter area.

We added the open display shelves where a built-in cabinet was prior. It's a great place to display old pottery.

We tiled the area under the bar and the new stools fit snugly under the counter so they are out of the way.

This new stainless steel sink is deep and roomy. I love the new faucet!

It's easy to have organized drawers when they are so roomy!

Spice heaven!!

We want to fill these with something.

I love the angles in this picture.

The dreaded post we had to make room for in the design.

This peninsula makes for a great place to prepare food.

I love the large stainless handles we used for the cabinets.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our new kitchen. I think this weekend would be a great time to make some Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes. Actually, if you like cupcakes you should check out my friend Jimmy's blog here. He is dreaming up some amazing flavors and they are so amazingly beautiful too!